The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1887-10-07

One way remain, lsy the Cu7,irltor,
10y which sheep may gg made profitable
for the restoration ug fertility. This is
to Duy in The fall and fa-ten curing the
winter. No kind OF stock makes more
or richer manure il proportion TO its
feed. ItrequTies experience with sheep,
and good Judgement added. TO bay them
judiciously, but when thus bought,
flock Of sheep II the fall can hardly fail
10 prove profitable for feeding.
The incresaed growth Of wool from
fattening sheep goes a good way toward
paying for their feed. Clover hay is
best for them, and with This and a very
little grain sheep can be got ID excell-
ent condition in sixty to ninety days,
and during this time q flock OF one huu-
dred will work down large straw stack
into manure, using most of it as bed
ding. 1t is in the barnyard, treadlng
down straw and compacting it with
evenly distributed manure, rather than
the pasture, that the foot of the sheep Is
golden. Graln-fed hogs will make
scarcely richer manure but they do not
relish clover hay nor tread down into
manure the straw they use as bedding.
Wintering flock of ewes so as 20
grow early lambs for market 10 profta-
bic If rightly managed; !; bot it requires
extra warm quarters and plenty OF roots
or other succulent food. l. also needs
greater skill and judgement than is re-
quired for fattening sheep. Merely in
feeding less skill is demanded, for the
breeding eve bss an appetite not easily
cloyed, and its feed is more laxative and
less nutritious than that usually given
90 fattenlng animals.
But the chief point in growing early
lambs for market is to keep up as large
a supply of milk as can be had from the
dam, and then supplementing this lust
as soon as lambs become old enough to
eat with the food that will bring them
into the best condition. Spring lamb
is food for the eplcnre, and whoever
provides it requires skill in proportion
to the difficulty OF it, production.
Wool is the farm product which
brings most MONEY In proportion TO
what 1t takes from the farm and with |
least labor 10 tie producer. But the !
life of a shepherd. though not lahor:ous,
is exacting, especially at lambing time. |
II any one gO9s into the business of |
keeping sheep with the notion that it IS |
an easy way of getting living he makes |
q serious mistake. Possibly in rough. |
new countries, on land that costs little |
or nothing, flock Of sheep will produce |
with little care on the part of
their owner, bus it is precarious busI-
ness even there.
AS part Of civilized farming on high J
priced land the sheep keeper must ex-
peet to give fully as much care to his
stock, and even more, than any Other
fam stock would require. IF through !
his neglect the stock becomes 4 failure
his losses viii be even greater than they
would be in some other branch OF farm
ing. The man who thinks chiefly how
he can have an easy time is not 1t for
any kind OF farming least OF all for
keeping sheep. In fact, there is no
kind OF business that such a one cas
'egin with any prospect OF success. (
Ihe idea that poorly kept sheep maze
sither the land OF their owner rich has
been too long delusion for those mex
3srIenCed II the business.